St. Rita Parish, Ranger

St. Rita Catholic Church in Ranger, Texas remains an integral part of the Diocese of Fort Worth’s Catholic heritage. Today, this Catholic community continues to honor its rich past while proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in a spirit of hope, faith and love.

The McKleskey No. 1 Discovery Well gusher of 1917 in Ranger sparked an oil boom throughout Eastland County that was said to be nothing short of a Godsend, according to the petroleum industry. Yet, to the faithful Catholic community, which later became St. Rita Catholic Parish in 1919, the source of that “Godsend” was never in doubt. For they knew it was God’s providence, not oil, which came about by means of a determined Father Rudolph Aloysius Gerken, who later became bishop of Amarillo, and the help of a strong and close-knit Catholic community in Ranger, Texas.